Kim Jong Un invited South Korean president to North Korea, Seoul says

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea said Saturday North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has invited South Korean President Moon Jae-in for a summit meeting in the North. Moon’s spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said Kim’s sister verbally delivered his offer in a lunch meeting with Moon at Seoul’s presidential palace. 

The spokesman said Moon replied that the North and South should continue to work to build conditions so that a summit can take place. 

The spokesman said Moon also called for a quick resumption of dialogue between the United States and North Korea. 

Moon’s office said Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, came to the South as his special envoy. 

CBS News correspondent Ben Tracy reported Friday it was a “historic moment” when Kim Yo Jong and Moon shook hands.

Tracy said her influence in the regime is so significant, South Korean media call her the North’s Ivanka Trump. Her presence is the latest move in an extraordinary show of Olympic diplomacy with Seoul that could prove to be a major challenge to the Trump administration’s hard-line Korea policies.  

And as Tracy reported earlier this week, the first member of North Korea’s ruling family to cross the border, Kim Yo Jong was never guaranteed a warm welcome from all South Koreans.   

During the Olympics’ Opening Ceremony, Vice President Mike Pence sat just feet away from Kim Yo Jong, and the country’s 90-year-old nominal head of state, Kim Yong Nam. The North Korean delegation sat a row behind Pence. A White House official said they did not interact. 

The official said Pence only stood for U.S. athletes during the cereomony.